1828 |
Thomas "Daddy" Rice's Jim Crow becomes the first international hit ever
|
1843 |
The Virginia Minstrels define the standard of the minstrel show
|
1865 |
The first black minstrel group, the Georgia Minstrels, is formed
|
1873 |
James Bland becomes the first major black songwriter
|
1885 |
Benjamin Franklin Keith and Edward Franklin Albee partner to create a nation-wide chain of vaudeville theaters
|
1897 |
Tom Turpin publishes the first piano rag, Harlem Rag
|
1898 |
Bob Cole's A Trip to Coontown is the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by blacks
|
1905 |
Ernest Hogan's black orchestra, the Memphis Students, debuts on Broadway
|
1907 |
Florenz Ziegfeld's revue "Ziegfeld Follies" debuts
|
1909 |
James Europe founds the "Clef Club"
|
1910 |
Bert Williams becomes the first black to be the protagonist of the "Ziegfeld Follies"
|
1915 |
Vernon and Irene Castle open New York's first cabaret, "Sans-Souci"
Jelly Roll Morton's Jerry Roll Blues is the first published piece of jazz music
|
1916 |
Charles "Luckey" Roberts is the first Harlem pianist to be recorded
|
1917 |
James Johnson pioneers stride piano
A white band, the Original Dixieland Jass Band, makes the first recording of "dixieland jazz" recording
|
1918 |
Joe "King" Oliver moves to Chicago
King Oliver leaves New Orleans for Chicago
White singer Al Jolson debuts the blackface character "Gus"
James Europe's orchestra Hellfighters tours Europe
Okeh releases its first record, by the New Orleans Jazz Band
|
1919 |
Will-Marion Cook's orchestra introduces Chicago to the syncopated music of New York
Will-Marion Cook's orchestra tours Europe
Kid Ory's Creole Orchestra cuts the first instrumental record by a black orchestra
The Original Dixieland Jass Band exports jazz to Britain
|
1920 |
Mamie Smith makes the first blues recording
|
1921 |
Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along is the first musical entirely produced and performed by blacks
|
1922 |
Louis Armstrong moves to Chicago
Kid Ory makes the first recording by a black jazz ensemble
|
1923 |
Coleman Hawkins moves to New York as a member of Mamie Smith's band and joins Fletcher Henderson's orchestra
A blues interpreted by black singer Bessie Smith becomes a national best-seller
The "Cotton Club" opens in Harlem
Fletcher Henderson forms a big band in New York
|
1924 |
Classical composer George Gershwin premieres the jazz composition Rhapsody in Blue performed by the Paul Whiteman orchestra
|
1925 |
Louis Armstrong forms the Hot Five
|
1926 |
Lew Leslie stages the "Blackbirds Revue" with an all-black cast
Louis Armstrong popularizes scat singing
The "Savoy" opens in Harlem
|
1927 |
Bix Beiderbecke joins the Paul Whiteman orchestra
Duke Ellington's shows at the "Cotton Club" are broadcast live
The "Onyx Club" opens in New York
The first talking movie is titled "The Jazz Singer"
|
1929 |
Kansas City guitarist Eddie Durham experiments with proto-amplifiers
|
1931 |
Duke Ellington's Creole Rhapsody (1931) takes both sides of a 7" record
Bix Beiderbecke dies
Buddy Bolden dies
|
1932 |
Louis Armstrong tours Europe
A Duke Ellington hit features the word "swing" in the title
|
1934 |
The magazine "Down Beat" is founded
A Cab Calloway hit gives a name to swing dancing, "jitterbug'
The "Apollo" night-club opens in Harlem
|
1935 |
Duke Ellington releases the 13-minute Reminiscing in Tempo, the longest jazz pieces yet committed to a record
A concert by the Benny Goodman orchestra at the "Palomar Ballroom" in Los Angeles is broadcast live
Benny Goodman makes recordings with a racially integrated trio
|
1936 |
William "Count" Basie organizes the Barons of Rhythm in Kansas City with Lester Young
|
1937 |
Dizzy Gillespie tours Europe
Bessie Smith dies
Duke Ellington's Caravan debuts Afro-Cuban rhythms in a swing context
|
1938 |
King Oliver dies
Commodore, one of the first independent jazz labels, is founded by Milt Gabler
|
1939 |
Coleman Hawkins' Body And Soul redefines the jazz ballad
Blue Note is founded by German emigre Alfred Lion
Ma Rainey dies
|
1941 |
Jelly Roll Morton dies
Sidney Bechet pioneers overdubbing when he plays six instruments on Sheik of Araby
Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke jam at Milt Minton's "Playhouse" in a new style, bebop
|
1942 |
Charlie Christian dies
Savoy is founded by Herman Lubinsky
|
1943 |
Fats Waller dies
|
1944 |
Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan constitute the nucleus of Billy Eckstine's band
The word "bebop" is first used to promote Dizzy Gillespie's quintet
Verve is founded by Norman Granz
|
1945 |
Miles Davis records with Charlie Parker
|
1947 |
Dizzy Gillespie records George Russell's Cubana Be Cubana Bop, the first modal improvisation
Gil Evans becomes Miles Davis' arranger
Dizzy Gillespie pioneers Afro-Cuban jazz
GNP Crescendo is founded by Gene Norman
|
1948 |
Discovery is founded by Albert Marx
|
1949 |
Lennie Tristano records two completely improvised free-form jams, Intuition and Digression
Miles Davis' nonet inaugurates "cool jazz"
New Jazz (later Prestige) is founded by Bob Weinstock
Metronome is founded in Sweden
|
1950 |
Vanguard is founded by Maynard and Seymour Solomon
|
1952 |
The Modern Jazz Quartet is formed to play chamber jazz
Fletcher Henderson dies
Pacific Jazz is founded by Richard Bock and Roy Harte
|
1953 |
Lennie Tristano records the dissonant Descent into the Maelstrom
Sun Ra founds his Arkestra
Horace Silver's Opus De Funk introduces the word "funk" in music
Delmark is founded by Bob Koester in Chicago
Django Reinhardt dies
Riverside is founded by Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews
|
1954 |
Art Blakey and Horace Silver form the Jazz Messengers and coin "hard bop"
|
1955 |
Charlie Parker dies at 35
John Coltrane joins Miles Davis' quintet
"Voice of America" begin broadcasting Willis Conover's jazz program for Soviet Union
Leonard Feather's "Encyclopedia of Jazz" is published
|
1956 |
Clifford Brown dies
Marshall Stearns' "The Story of Jazz" is published by Oxford University Press
Art Tatum dies
Youstol Dispage dies
|
1958 |
The Monterey Jazz Festival is started by Jimmy Lyons
Jim Hall coins the term "instant composition" to describe jazz improvisation
|
1959 |
Dave Brubeck's Time Out (1959) becomes the first million-selling jazz record
Ornette Coleman launches free jazz with The Shape of Jazz to Come
Sidney Bechet dies
Lester Young dies
Billie Holiday dies
|
1960 |
Eric Dolphy joines Ornette Coleman
Betty Carter uses the voice as an instrument on The Modern Sound
Impulse is founded by by producer Creed Taylor
|
1961 |
Horace Tapscott founds the Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension or Underground Musicians' Association (UGMA) in Los Angeles
Ravi Shankar and Bud Shank mix jazz and Indian music
|
1962 |
Stan Getz sparks interest in bossanova
Free-jazz musicians travel to Europe
Sunny Murray abandons rhythm
|
1963 |
Archie Shepp and Don Cherry form the New York Contermporary Five
Tony Oxley, Derek Bailey and Gavin Bryars form the trio Joseph Holbrooke
ESP is founded by Bernard Stollman
|
1964 |
Don Cherry moves to Europe
John Coltrane adopts Coleman's free jazz for Ascension
Michael Mantler founds the Jazz Composer's Orchestra Association (JCOA)
Guenter Hampel, Manfred Schoof and Alexander von Schlippenbach formed a quintet in Germany
Tony Scott records Music For Zen Meditation, a collaboration with a koto player and a shakuhachi flute player
The October Revolution in Jazz festival heralds free-jazz
John Coltrane cuts the four-movement multi-ethnic mass A Love Supreme
Eric Dolphy dies
|
1965 |
The Chicago Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians is formed in Chicago
John Stevens founds the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in Britain
|
1966 |
Bud Powell dies
Roscoe Mitchell releases the first album of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)
Alexander Von Schlippenbach forms the Globe Unity Orchestra
Milestone is founded by Orin Keepnews
|
1967 |
Anthony Braxton forms a trio with violinist Leroy Jenkins and trumpeter Leo Smith, the Creative Construction Company
Roscoe Mitchell's group is renamed Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Willem Breuker, Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg found the Instant Composer's Pool in Holland
The first Montreux Jazz Festival is held in Switzerland
Nessa is founded by Chuck Nessa in Chicago
John Coltrane dies
Paul Whiteman dies
|
1968 |
The multimedia collective Black Artists' Group (BAG) is formed in St Louis
Evan Parker and Derek Bailey form the Music Improvisation Company
Anthony Braxton, a member of the Chicago Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, launches "creative jazz" with For Alto Saxophone
Miles Davis employs electric piano and electric guitar for Miles In The Sky
Wes Montgomery dies
Sackville is founded by John Norris and Bill Smith
Gunther Schuller's "History of Jazz" is published
|
1969 |
Miles Davis launches jazz-rock fusion with In a Silent Way
Manfred Eicher founds the ECM label in Germany
FMP (the Free Music Production) is founded
Coleman Hawkins dies
|
1970 |
Anthony Braxton forms Circle with pianist Chick Corea, double-bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul
Albert Ayler dies at 34
Evan Parker, Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley found Incus
|
1971 |
John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra introduces a strong Indian element into jazz
Enja (European New Jazz Association) is founded by Horst Weber and Matthias Winckelmann in Germany
Louis Armstrong dies
|
1972 |
Barry Guy founds the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra
Steeple Chase is founded by Nils Winther
|
1973 |
Herbie Hancock's Headhunters becomes the all-time best-seller of jazz music
|
1974 |
Duke Ellington dies
Hat Hut/Hat Art is founded by Werner Uehlinger in Switzerland
|
1976 |
Derek Bailey founds the Company
Black Saint is founded by Giovanni Bonandrini in Italy
|
1977 |
Errol Garner dies
Roland Kirk dies
Creative Music Productions is founded in Germany
|
1979 |
Charles Mingus dies
Stan Kenton dies
Gramavision is founded by Jonathan Rose
Soul Note is founded by Giovanni Bonandrini in Italy
|
1980 |
Bill Evans dies
|
1981 |
Mary Lou Williams dies
|
1982 |
Thelonious Monk dies
Fred Anderson opens the "Velvet Lounge" in Chicago
|
1983 |
Earl Hines dies
Herbie Hancock's Rockit is the first single by a jazz musician to reach number one in Billboard's pop charts
|
1984 |
Count Basie dies
|
1985 |
Kenny Clarke dies
|
1986 |
Benny Goodman dies
|
1987 |
Jaco Pastorius dies
The "Knitting Factory" club is opened by Michael Dorf
|
1988 |
Gilles Peterson coins the term "acid jazz"
Gil Evans dies
Chet Baker dies
|
1989 |
Roy Eldridge dies
Woody Shaw dies
|
1990 |
Mel Lewis dies
Sarah Vaughan dies
Dexter Gordon dies
Art Blakey dies
|
1991 |
Stan Getz dies
Miles Davis dies
|
1993 |
Sun Ra dies
Dizzy Gillespie dies
|
1994 |
Joe Pass dies
|
1995 |
Don Cherry dies at 59
Don Pullen dies
Tzadik is founded by John Zorn
|
1996 |
Gerry Mulligan dies
The first Vision Festival is held for avantgarde jazz
|
1997 |
Stephane Grapelli dies
Tony Williams dies
Ted Gioia's "The History of Jazz" is published.
|
1999 |
Art Farmer dies
Milt Jackson dies
Lester Bowie dies
|
2001 |
Alyn Shipton's "New History of Jazz" is published
|
2004 |
Steve Lacy dies at 69
|
2005 |
Derek Bailey dies at 75
The "Katrina" hurricane devastate New Orleans
|
2006 |
|
2007 |
Piero Scaruffi's "A History of Jazz Music" is published
Leroy Jenkins dies at 75
Max Roach dies at 83
Joe Zawinul dies at 75
Oscar Peterson dies at 82
|
2011 |
Paul Motian dies at 80
Sam Rivers dies at 88
|
2014 |
Charlie Haden dies
|
2015 |
Ornette Coleman dies
|
2016 |
Paul Bley dies
2018 |
Cecil Taylor dies
2020 |
McCoy Tyner dies
2021 |
Chick Corea dies
2022 |
Pharoah Sanders dies
2023 |
Wayne Shorter dies
Carla Bley dies
2024 |
Patty Waters dies
Irene Schweizer dies
|
|